Development of bioresorbable electrospun small-diameter vascular grafts

G.A. ABRAHAM; F. MONTINI BALLARIN; P.C. CARACCIOLO

Cancún-Riviera Maya

Simposio; XV Simposio Latinoamericano de Polímeros y XIII Congreso Iberoamericano de Polímeros, SLAP 2016; 2016

Sociedad Polimérica de México (SPM)

To this day, the development of small-diameter vascular grafts (SDVG, < 6 mm) with an appropriate biomechanical response still presents a big challenge. The availability of an off-the-shelf conduit, without long in vitro culture periods, with proper biological and mechanical properties for coronary bypass surgery is the main challenge of vascular tissue engineering.1 In this work, we developed a bilayered nanofibrous bioresorbable electrospun conduit from poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) / segmented poly(ester urethane) (SPU) blends, by mimicking the collagen-to-elastin ratio of media and adventitia layers in native tissues. The influence of the different electrospinning parameters into the fiber formation, fiber morphology and fiber mean diameter for PLLA, SPU and two PLLA/SPU blends were studied. In vitro hydrolytic degradation and mechanical behaviour were exhaustively investigated. Surface modification of inner layer with heparin and lyzosime was performed to introduce antithrombogenic properties and to reduce the risk of infection after implantation, respectively.